Development plan (was: Re: splitting this list)

[Steven Bosscher]

Benjamin Kosnik wrote:

>>What do folks think about trying to alleviate the increasingly heavy
>>volume on this list into something more manageable? 
>>    
>>
>
>Doing something about this would be nice. I dunno if the target-specific
>lists are the way to go but I'd be willing to try something new.
>
Why not more language-specific lists?  You now sometimes see discussions 
about language issues being debated in gcc and gcc-patches (one of them 
or both at the same time).  But hardly ever about Java, because they 
have their own mailing lists.


>I would really appreciate a gcc-release list, so I could understand what
>the release dates are without having to
>
>1) scan the gcc archives 
>2) miss deadlines and have Mark do release-fu on me
>
Since when are release dates announced in the gcc archives?  :-)   If 
the development plan was being discussed less infrequent, and if
the web page for it would for once not be out of date, it would be 
easier to follow for everyone.

>Right now, I have no idea when gcc-3.4 will branch (but am assuming June
>14, 2003), or when a gcc-3.3.1 release is scheduled (I'm assuming there
>is no organization or plan here).
>
>Not too helpful:
>
>http://gcc.gnu.org/develop.html
>

Well, what is a list of planned release dates worth if you look back and 
notice the 6 months between branching 3.3 and actually releasing it?

When 3.3 should have been in bug fix mode (ie. stage 3), everybody was 
playing with their own branches.  Now that all those branches have been 
merged. there still is no clear plan.  OK, so you cannot plan the 
details because you cannot demand volunteers to only hunt/fix bugs and 
stabilize the trunk.  But with a complete lack of a plan like the 
current situation, a volunteer wouldn't even know what to do or what to 
prioritize.

That is why I had hoped so much to hear more about what Mark has said in 
his keynote at the GCC summit.... :-(  Did anyone take notes there?

Gr.
Steven